Winser rejects call to further trim grid planning process

Cutting the target time for delivering transmission infrastructure under the seven years recommended in his recent review of the grid would be “wrong” and encroach on democracy, Nick Winser has warned.

The outgoing Electricity Network Commissioner recommended in his government-commissioned review of accelerating transmission infrastructure, published last summer, that the timescale for delivering new grid projects should be halved from the current average of 14 years to seven.

Giving evidence to the House of Commons energy security and net zero committee’s inquiry into the future of the grid, Winser was pressed on whether seven years is a sufficiently ambitious timescale.

This timescale is “right” and fits with those for changes in the generation and demand mix, he said: “We would start to encroach on decent planning activity and the absolutely legitimate right of communities and individuals to be heard in a proper way.

“This is major infrastructure going through communities. It would be wrong to go faster.”

Winser also told the committee that he “profoundly disagreed” with ripping up the planning regime for major grid infrastructure projects, which comprises two and a half of the seven years for delivering grid infrastructure projects mooted in his report.

He said the 2008 Planning Act, which provides the framework for determining nationally significant infrastructure projects, is “sensible legislation.”

However, this framework has been hobbled by “lack of clarity” resulting from the absence until recently of an up to date energy National Policy Statement, prolonging pre-application discussions, the former National Grid CEO said: “With extra clarity and respect for transparent debate, we can adhere to the detailed timescales in Planning Act 2008 that will get us to two and a half year planning cycles.”

Responding to a call for the publication by this summer of the first national Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP), another of his review’s recommendations, he said: “The important thing is to get the strategic spatial energy plan in place.

“Something high level that may not be very detailed in itself will make a huge impact. Rather than race to get a perfect thing, just starting to lay out where things are going to be on a map and inform network plans will be valuable.”

Nick Geddes, business leader, whole systems and networks at Energy Systems Catapult, agreed that the first SSEP is “not going to be the “all singing, all dancing version” that subsequent documents may be.